First U.S. scientist to die of plague in 50 years worked in labs with 'harmless' bacteria

Daily Mail, Feb. 28, 2011

A scientist died after becoming the first American researcher to contract the plague in 50 years, it has been revealed.

Malcolm Casadaban, 60, was working with a weakened form of the plague's bacteria thought to be harmless to humans when he died in September 2009, a report said. The University of Chicago genetics and cell biology professor's work with the live bacteria was not even noted when he fell ill and he followed proper safety protocols.

Dr Casadaban had the hereditary condition ‘hemochromatosis’, causing an excessive build-up of iron and potentially making people more vulnerable to the plague, an autopsy said.

Dr Alexander said he believed Dr Casadaban would have had one comment for the university officials and scientists meeting after the tragic event. 'Listen guys, I’m trying to teach you something - and you better damn well learn it.'

Full story

Despite Setbacks, Autism-Vaccine Research Continues

Autism Key, Feb. 26, 2011

The recent Supreme Court ruling shielding pharmaceutical companies from vaccine injury liability is a devastating blow for countless families who have fought many years attempting to link their children’s autism to vaccinations. While the decision was entirely predictable, it should be emphasized that much more research is still needed before vaccine manufacturers get a free pass and we completely shut the door on the autism-vaccine debate.

Additionally, the disgracing of Andrew Wakefield is purported to have ended the controversy once and for all, but it has only served as a distraction from the fact that previous studies have primarily focused on the safety of individual vaccines, not on the interaction between the vaccines and their synergistic possibilities, particularly in vulnerable scenarios such as premature births or low birth weight.

Fortunately, such research is currently ongoing, undertaken by the Thoughtful House Center for Children in Austin, Texas, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children with developmental disabilities.

Full story

New Organic Milk Contains Illegal Synthetic Additive

OpEdNews.com, Feb. 25, 2011

A prominent organic industry watchdog filed a formal legal complaint today alleging that a newly introduced product, by the giant dairy conglomerate Dean Foods, includes a synthetic nutritional oil that is prohibited in organics.

The product, Horizon Fat-Free Milk Plus DHA Omega-3, bears the USDA organic seal despite a ruling in 2010 by the USDA that the proprietary DHA oil, an ingredient derived from algae, is not legal in organic production.

"This is a willful and flagrant violation of the law governing organic foods," states Mark A. Kastel, Codirector of the Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based farm policy research group.

Due to its past unauthorized use, federal regulators recently issued a statement confirming that adding these synthetic oils violates the Organic Foods Production Act. "It is therefore absolutely baffling that Dean Foods would introduce a product with synthetic DHA and have the audacity to label it organic, and it's even more disturbing that their certifier would allow this," said Charlotte Vallaeys, a Farm and Food Policy Analyst with The Cornucopia Institute.

In addition to Dean Foods, a few other food processors and several infant formula manufacturers have included the synthetic additive, manufactured by Martek Biosciences Corporation, in organic products, despite their lack of approval.

From documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Cornucopia discovered that the USDA, under the Bush Administration, had informally allowed the additives in organic foods after a backroom deal with corporate lobbyists.

Full story

Shoppers wary of GM foods find they're everywhere

AP, Feb. 25, 2011

WASHINGTON – You may not want to eat genetically engineered foods. Chances are, you are eating them anyway.

"If you mess with nature there's a side effect somewhere," says George Siemon, CEO of Organic Valley, the nation's largest organic farming cooperative, which had more than $600 million in sales last year. "There is a growing awareness that our system makes us all guinea pigs of sorts."

The U.S. government has insisted there's not enough difference between the genetically modified seeds its agencies have approved and natural seeds to cause concern. But Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, more so than his predecessors in previous administrations, has acknowledged the debate over the issue and a growing chorus of consumers concerned about what they are eating.

Full story

Several states consider loosening raw milk restrictions as FDA tries to tighten them

Natural News, Feb. 25, 2011

As the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) evaluates ways to further restrict Americans' access to raw milk and raw milk products, several US states are considering legislation to loosen the regulatory noose that limits freedom of food choice. Texas, Oregon, Minnesota, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin all have pending legislation to legalize raw milk sales, relax sale restrictions that make buying the product difficult, or for the first time decriminalize raw milk sales with restrictions.

The rhetoric coming from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FDA, and various state health agencies and officials hellbent on telling people what they can and cannot drink, is losing ground to the simple grassroots efforts pushing for more raw milk freedom.

Full story
Related stories:
FDA’s crackdown on raw-milk cheese based on flawed data analysis
DOA Confiscating Raw Milk in Minnesota (Video)

Supreme Court & Pharmaceutical Terrorism

Dr. Sircus's Blog, Feb. 22, 2011

The Supreme Court showed the world today that there is nothing supreme or noble about it and that it is as corrupt and cruel as most other governmental institutions. In a 6-3 vote, the high court ruled for Wyeth, saying they could not be sued for vaccine damages. Wyeth is now owned by Pfizer Inc. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that federal law shields vaccine makers from product-liability lawsuits in state courts seeking damages for a child’s injuries or death from a vaccine’s side effects.

The trial case was a lawsuit by the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, who suffered seizures as an infant after her third dose of a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine in 1992.

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 is a law that was adopted by Congress that created a special program to handle disputes in an effort to ensure a stable vaccine supply—by shielding companies from most lawsuits. The federal program, involving what is known as the vaccine court, has awarded more than $1.8 billion for vaccine injury claims in nearly 2,500 cases since 1989.

Full story

Chevron Runs From Judgment in Ecuador

Truthout, Feb. 15, 2011

Chevron Petroleum Corporation is attempting to slither out of an $8 billion judgment rendered yesterday by a trial court in Ecuador for cancer deaths, illnesses and destruction caused by its Texaco unit.

I met the victims. They didn't lose their shrimp boats; they lost their kids. Emergildo Criollo, chief of the Cofan natives of the Amazon, told me about his three-year-old. "He went swimming, then began vomiting blood." Then he died.

Full story

Dr. Blaylock: First Lady’s Plan Ignores Real Obesity Issues

KiowaCountySignal.com, Feb. 20, 2011

First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, which attempts to reduce childhood obesity by encouraging kids, parents, schools, communities, and pediatricians to focus on healthier eating and exercise, diverts attention from the real cause of the U.S. obesity epidemic, says Dr. Russell Blaylock.

While a high-sugar, high-fat diet, and a lack of physical exercise contribute to the problem, the three main causes of widespread obesity are: consumption of massive amounts of excitotoxic food additives, such as MSG; low vitamin D3 levels; and the over-vaccination of children, says Blaylock, editor of The Blaylock Wellness Report.

“This is the major problem, but it’s being completely ignored despite extensive research in the area,” he says. "While [Michelle Obama's] goals are laudable, one must be careful that this is not just another massive spending program that will eventually be taken over by major food-based corporations and pharmaceutical companies, as we have seen in other areas of such 'governmental-private partnerships.'

"As soon as we accept [it], we will see mandatory vaccinations of every description, drugs being added to our water supply, and children forced to take dangerous psychotropic drugs and statins. I believe we should reject creating another massive federal agency and risk losing control of our own children."

Studies show that when fed to newborn animals, excitotoxic food additives like monosodium glutamate and soy extract, cause obesity by damaging the hypothalamus, an area of the brain that regulates weight, and the pancreas, which regulates blood-sugar levels, he says.

Studies show that low levels of vitamin D3 are correlated to weight regain, he says. And extensive research has shown that too many vaccinations results in immune over-stimulation in the pancreas, causing diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome, a series of risk factors such as high blood pressure, insulin resistance, and high cholesterol.

“Contributing to this is thdie massive consumption also of high-fructose corn syrup, high-sugar diet, [and] lack of exercise,” he says.

Full story

Leaked document: EPA knowingly approved bee-killing pesticide

Natural News, Jan. 5, 2011

A Colorado beekeeper recently obtained a leaked document revealing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knows a popular crop pesticide is killing off honey bees, but has allowed its continued approval anyway. Despite opposition from its own scientists, EPA officials first gave the a-okay to Bayer CropScience's toxic pesticide clothianidin in 1993 based on the company's own flawed safety studies. But now it has been revealed that the EPA knew all along about the dangers of clothianidin and decided to just ignore them.

By now, most people know that honeybees are dying off at an incredibly disturbing rate. Colony collapse disorder (CCD), a condition where bees stray from the hive and never find their way back, is nixing millions of nature's pollinators every year. Previous studies have pinpointed various environmental toxins as the primary culprits, including toxic pesticides like clothianidin.

Several European nations have outlawed the use of clothianidin, including Germany, France, Italy and Slovenia. U.S. growers of conventional crops, however, continue to use the dangerous chemical thanks to corrupt EPA officials. And when all the honey bees die and there are no pollinators left to grow food, these same EPA officials will be responsible for the mass murder of millions of people.

Full story

Students must get new whooping cough vaccine

Imperial Valley Press News, Feb. 20, 2011

A “new rule for school” is coming to California for the 2010-2011 school year, but some Imperial Valley organizations are already getting the word out to students.

Beginning July 1 all students entering seventh through 12th grades in public and private schools must show proof of having been immunized against whooping cough, according to an Imperial County Public Health Department press release.

Andrade said the Immunization Coalition and other health agencies spent the week posting on Web sites and handing out information in schools about Preteen Vaccine Week, which ended Saturday with a scavenger hunt and raffle at the Imperial Valley Mall in El Centro.

“We learned about preteen vaccines and how important it is to get vaccines,” Natalie Shunnarah, an El Centro resident and member of the winning scavenger hunt team, said. “It was fun,” said the 11-year-old.

Andrade said that while the Tdap vaccine (which protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis) is required, it is also recommended for seventh- through 12th-graders to receive vaccines against varicella (chickenpox), HPV (human papillomavirus), the seasonal flu and meningococcal meningitis.


Full story

Documents emerge proving Dr Andrew Wakefield innocent; BMJ and Brian Deer caught misrepresenting the facts

Natural News, Feb. 11, 2011

New documents have emerged that clear Dr Andrew Wakefield of the allegations of fraud recently made by the British Medical Journal and its reporter Brian Deer. This new evidence "completely negates the allegations that I committed scientific fraud. Brian Deer and Dr. Godlee of the British Medical Journal (BMJ) knew or should have known about the facts set out below before publishing their false allegations," says Dr Andrew Wakefield...

Remember, Dr Wakefield has been accused of completely fabricating his findings about these same children in his 1998 paper, but these documents reveal that fourteen months before Dr Wakefield's paper was published, two other researchers -- Professor Walker-Smith and Dr Amar Dhillon -- independently documented the same problems in these children, including symptoms of autism.

Full story

New Vaccine Science Can Help Bridge the Divide

Vaccine Awakening, Jan. 19, 2011

On January 3-7, 2011, a vaccine safety conference was held in Montego Bay, Jamaica that included a diverse groups of delegates from around the world, including senior scientists and physicians, editors of scientific journals, experts in vaccine regulation, social science and health policy, consumer child health advocates, legal experts and members of the media.

Many delegates presented information from the peer reviewed scientific literature and pointed out gaps in knowledge about the biological mechanisms for vaccine induced brain and immune dysfunction, as well as the fact there is inadequate information about:

One: Genetic and biological high risk factors for vaccine injury and death;

Two: Vaccine safety data, especially for delayed or chronic health outcomes;

Three: Vaccine additives, including aluminum adjuvants, which are immune stimulating agents, as well as mercury preservatives;

Four: Multiple vaccinations given simultaneously or repeatedly over time;

Five: Bias in reporting of vaccine risks and benefits; and

Six: Novel vaccine-associated autoimmune diseases.

Full story

Tamoxifen link to second tumors

Health in Life, Feb. 15, 2011

Many years ago now, Dr. Samuel Epstein of Chicago raised serious concerns about Tamoxifen. Perhaps more people should have been listening.

More people should be listening to the fact that annual screening mammogram promotes breast cancer. (Suggestion: Request Thermography)

Long-term use of a common breast cancer drug may hike the risk of developing a deadly second tumour, a study suggests.

Tamoxifen, given to thousands of women, prevents tumours being fuelled by the sex hormone oestrogen, and stops them returning after surgery.

But a US study links use of the drug to a four-fold raised risk of developing a more aggressive, difficult-to-treat tumour, not dependent on oestrogen.

Full story

Book Review: 'Vaccine Epidemic'

The Epoch Times, Feb. 13, 2011

Legalism is the driving force behind a powerful new book with a unique, provocative view on the autism-vaccine flashpoint. Big Pharma, bigger government, and a pliable mainstream media have been trying to squelch and censor the right to vaccine choice for the past decade.

Books like Vaccine Epidemic, combined with the social networking power of the Web, make it impossible for the apocryphal CDC and NIH, the government agencies tasked with being the guardians of public health, to control and suppress all information or from putting the dark truths back in Pandora’s box.

The push by federal and state governments to make injecting newborn babies and infants with vaccines of unproven safety and questionable ingredients—aluminum hydroxide, pig and bovine DNA, and thimerosal, although in lesser amounts—backs not only an argument against the Puritanism of today’s vaccine program, but it exposes the propaganda machine of Big Pharma, the government, and the press for what it really is: a collusive, profit driven calculus to control people and diminish their rights.

Full story
Related stories: CDC announces new vaccine schedule, Feb. 12, 2011
"The recommended schedule for shots are at 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 12 to 15 months and then 4 years old...Blackburn recommended that parents who are concerned about the risks of having their children immunized should do research. More can be learned about vaccines through the CDC website."

Doctors demand schoolgirls be vaccinated against genital warts

A second vaccine to be added to the HPV vaccine program for British teenagers. Another sick triumph for rapacious Big Pharma. -Ed.

The Observer, Feb. 13, 2011

Sexual health specialists want all 12- and 13-year-old girls to be immunised against genital warts at the same time as they get a jab protecting them against cervical cancer.

The call has come from the British Association of Sexual Health and HIV, which represents clinicians who staff genito-urinary clinics dealing with people who develop sexually transmitted infections such as herpes and chlamydia. They say the pain and misery involved in getting genital warts is so great that the routine vaccination of girls is needed to tackle the condition, which affects about 200,000, mainly young, people every year.

Since 2008, 12- and 13-year-olds have been offered a series of three jabs to vaccinate them against cervical cancer. About 80% receive the injections, which offer 95% to 100% protection against the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes the disease. HPV also causes genital warts, as well as conditions such as skin warts, verrucas and several other rarer cancers.

Full story

Why You’d Be Crazy to Consume Aspartame

Natural Bias, Nov. 23, 2009

Aspartame has been reported to have upwards of 100 side effects, many of which are neurological or related to impaired nervous system function. Aspartame usage has even been associated with the diagnosis of serious conditions such as multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, lupus, brain tumors, and even death. Under the NutraSweet label, aspartame is sold in more than 100 countries, is found in more than 6,000 products, and is consumed by more than 250 million people which includes more than two thirds of the American population. The fact that aspartame has significantly compromised the lives of many people is very real and its use is a serious risk that lacks any reasonable justification whatsoever, especially when natural alternatives exist that are much safer.

Full story

Brain Lesions in an Infant Rhesus Monkey Treated with Monosodium Glutamate

The manufacturers of monosodium glutamate and foods containing msg knew long ago that this substance causes brain damage. The following is part of the proof. -Ed.

SCIENCE, Oct. 17, 1969
John W. Olney and Lawrence G. Sharpe

Abstract
In an infant rhesus monkey brain damage resulted from subcutaneously administered monosodium glutamate. Although a relatively high dose of monosodium glutamate was used, the infant was asymptomatic for a 3-hour observation period during which time hypothalamic neurons were undergoing a process of acute cell death. With the electron microscope it was observed that dendrites and cell bodies of neurons are the tissue components primarily affected in brain damage induced by monosodium glutamate.

Full story

Avoiding Food Additives And Preservatives

essortment.com, Feb. 12, 2011

Essentially there are two main sources of dangerous or threatening additives. The first is those that are put in as part of the processing operation. These include the colourings, preservatives, flavours and flavour enhances, sweeteners, texture agents and processing agents.

Your decaffeinated coffee probably contains the solvent methylene chloride.
Your margarine contains potassium sorbate and monoglycerides.
Your sausages contain nitrites, which are known to cause cancer.
Your bread may have sodium-stearoyl-2-lactylate, caramel and calcium propionate.

Animals carry their own hidden "additives" with hormones for growth and increased milk production, antibiotics freely given to farm animals to prevent and cure animal sicknesses and residue from various chemicals given to ward off insects etc. Chickens are given mixtures containing copper sulphate, lead and arsenic to help growth and many of these remain in the meat and eventually find their way into the human intestinal tract.

Full story

'One More Girl' unveils truth behind HPV vaccine travesty

NaturalNews, Feb. 10, 2011

This provocative film documents the stories of the numerous girls adversely affected by the HPV vaccines - giving these young women and their families a chance to speak out - share their dismay and sense of betrayal for simply believing the pharmaceutical and medical industries were protecting them when marketing HPV vaccines for the prevention of cervical cancer.

Filled with stories of anguish, loss of innocence, guilt on the part of mothers who encouraged their daughter's to get the vaccine - and financial devastation as families use their hard-earned savings to find a cure for their daughter's illness.

Donielle Richardson, 18 year old sister of the Richardson brothers was also adversely injured by Gardasil and it was her adverse reaction and long road to recovery that motivated the Richardson family to research other Gardasil injured girls. Their discoveries compelled them to create a documentary powerful enough to prevent this type of travesty from happening to any medical consumer - ever again.

Full story
Related story:
Update: Vaccine Side Effects, Adverse Reactions, Contraindications, and Precautions Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), 1996
This report provides updated information concerning the potential adverse events associated with vaccination for hepatitis B, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. An amazing CDC document, admitting the side effects and problems associated with vaccines. -Ed.

Diet soft drinks may raise stroke risk, study suggests

WinnipegCTV.ca, Feb. 10, 2011

The research was presented this week at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2011. It found that people who drank diet pop every day had a 48 per cent higher risk of stroke or heart attack than people who said they never drank the stuff.

The study's lead researcher, Hannah Gardener, an epidemiologist at the University of Miami, says she has no idea why diet soft drinks could be risky.

"If our results are confirmed with future studies, then it would suggest that diet soda may not be the optimal substitute for sugar-sweetened beverages for protection against vascular outcomes," Gardener said in a news release.

Full story

Do You Know What’s In Your Salmon?

Dr. Chris Olgilvie, Feb. 8, 2011

Regardless of the price, if the average consumer saw two salmon, one that was salmon pink, and one that was jailhouse gray, the pink one will win out most of the time. Not only are the farm raised salmon gray, but all of those omega 3′s we thought we were getting, just don’t occur in similar quantities as they do in wild salmon.

The industry’s solution to this problem was to add a color additive to the salmon to give them a pinker look. As with most food additives, the two that are principally used in salmon are derived from petroleum. Canthaxanthin and astaxanthin are the petrochemicals used to color our fish so it looks pretty and we buy it.

Full story

USDA Allows GMO Sugar Beet Planting Even After a Landmark Court Decision Says No

War on You, Feb. 8, 2011

In December, a federal judge ordered that 258 very important acres of genetically modified sugar beets be destroyed. Judge Jeffrey White ruled that the crops be destroyed because the risk of gene contamination in Oregon’s Willamette Valley was so great. This was a step in the right direction no matter how small the step.

According to Reuters, the USDA has said it would take at least two years to develop new regulations in response to the overall ban issued last month by U.S. District Court Judge White.

But it seems there was little victory to enjoy because according to Minnesota Public Radio, the USDA most recently announced that farmers will be allowed to grow genetically modified sugar beets this season, “while it finishes work on a full environmental impact statement on the beets’ effect on other crops and the environment.” What? If you even think there may be a problem, why would you continue to make it worst?
...
“The USDA has been using its antiquated regulations as an excuse for not thoroughly reviewing GMOs. We must fight in court to bring accountability to the USDA, and we must also take this fight to rural American farms and the grocery aisles.”

Full story

Using Fear & Prejudice to Attack Vaccine Exemptions

Vaccine Awakening

In 2009, public health officials declared a pandemic H1N1 influenza emergency and played up the potential complications of the swine flu while playing down the potential risks of the untested new swine flu vaccine. When two-thirds of Americans “just said no” to swine flu shots, NBC’s chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman ridiculed them and quipped “Just get the damn vaccine.”

Now Snyderman has issued a similar standing order to “get vaccinated” but, this time, she is accusing parents of unvaccinated children for causing the deaths of six California infants, who have reportedly died from complications of B. pertussis whooping cough. On July 28, 2010, Dr. Snyderman further alleged that “most people” with religious objections to vaccination are not telling the truth and that the “needs” of the “community as a whole” are “better than the individual” and “more important.”

Full story

Homeopathy Attacked by Big Pharma Supporters

The Daily Bell, Feb. 7, 2011

Big Pharma has apparently found another target: homeopathy. After relentlessly destroying Britain's Dr. Andrew Wakefield for his temerity to suggest that there might be a link between vaccines and autism or other childhood injuries, homeopathy has now come under attack. It is part of larger power-elite dominant social theme having to do with the scientific correctness of Western, surgical medicine and the fuzziness and non-utility of other approaches.

Of course from our point of view (as an alternative "reality-based"news site) this is in itself questionable. Many pharmaceutical companies derive many of their drugs from natural plants, often found in the Amazon. Aspirin is a good example of this. But unlike aspirin, most pharmaceutical solutions seem to have critical and even deadly side effects. This may be the result of simulating nature with chemistry or is simply inherent in the process of concentrating the antidote. What does seem apparent is that many of so-called safe drugs that are said to be both effective and non-detrimental to one's health, turn out to be most toxic over a long time period.
...
Singh, like Randi and other mainstream debunkers of "alternative" science and health, spend a good deal of time attacking what seems to be effective for some (though not all). They are, of course, entitled to their views; but when one looks judiciously at the way the world works, one is struck by the constant "scientific" attacks on people's free-market choices and little in the way of analysis of the West's increasing governmental mandates when it comes to regulating people's preferences by law (and force).

Full story

Gardasil: Still not tested or proven to prevent cancer

PPJ Gazette, Feb. 6, 2011

Gardasil is the vaccine promoted as protection against various types of cervical cancer supposedly caused by the HPV virus, and obviously is intended for other purposes. Even with the number of deaths and injury from the vaccine the ads ran non-stop on TV while state and federal governments tried to find ever newer and more invasive ways of making mandatory vaccination a reality. They got their wish; Obamacare calls for mandatory vaccination and proof of updates to vaccinations in order to get any healthcare.
...
Please note in this next article that Gardasil has been expanded to include far more than cervical cancer and includes the observation that “HPV is THOUGHT to be the cause”…not, is the cause or, we know it’s the cause, or we can prove conclusively, or there is substantial evidence,…they just think it could be. This is a broad and vague claim and totally without any conclusive supporting evidence.
...
Gardasil contains extremely high levels of aluminum and polysorbate 80, a known cause of sterility in lab tests on mice, and also known to cause sterility in humans. High levels of other neurotoxic chemicals and the presence of thimerosal, a derivitive of mercury is said to be present although MERCK continues to deny that allegation.

Full story

MSG: Hidden Sources

NaturoDoc, Feb. 6, 2011

Those wishing to eliminate MSG from their diets are faced with an almost impossible task. Food preparers are often unaware that they're even using MSG. Labels can be misleading. A label that says "No MSG added" doesn't necessarily mean that the food is free of MSG, it simply means that the manufacturer didn't put in additional MSG. MSG goes under many aliases, one of the most common being "hydrolyzed vegetable protein," an additive used to increase the protein content of a wide variety of foods.

Manufacturers also hide MSG as part of "natural flavorings," because it is a natural product. But being natural is not the same as being harmless.

Full story

BREAKING NEWS: Statement From Dr. Andrew Wakefield: No Fraud. No Hoax. No Profit Motive.

AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/— Dr. Andrew Wakefield issued the following statement on the recent British Medical Journal articles:

“The British Medical Journal and reporter Brian Deer recently alleged that my 1998 research paper was ‘a hoax’ and ‘an elaborate fraud’ and that my motivation was profit.

“I want to make one thing crystal clear for the record – my research and the serious medical problems found in those children were not a hoax and there was no fraud whatsoever. Nor did I seek to profit from our findings.

“I stand by the Lancet paper’s methodology and the results which call for more research into whether environmental triggers cause gastrointestinal disease and developmental regression in children. In fact, despite media reports to the contrary, the results of my research have been duplicated in five other countries (to see citations to studies, visit http://tinyurl.com/4hrdt5y.)

“It is not unexpected to see poor reporting and misinformation coming from Brian Deer, the lead reporter of the recent BMJ coverage. But to see coverage in other media that cites Deer’s shoddy journalism in the BMJ as a final justification to claim there is no link between vaccines and autism is ludicrous. The MMR is only one vaccine of the eleven vaccinations on the pediatric schedule that has been studied for causing developmental problems such as autism. That is fact, not opinion. Any medical professional, government official or journalist who states that the case is closed on whether vaccines cause autism is jumping to conclusions without the research to back it up.

“I continue to fully support more independent research to determine if environmental triggers, including vaccines, are causing autism and other developmental problems. The current rate of autism is 1 in 110 children in the United States and 1 in 64 children in the U.K. My goal has always been and will remain the health and safety of children. Since the Lancet paper, I have lost my job, my career and my country. To claim that my motivation was profit is patently untrue. I will not be deterred – this issue is far too important.”

Related stories:
Amy Wallace & Yellow Journalism, Sept. 10, 2010..."I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach as I read the unsubstantiated, unchallenged slur made by Offit against me. And in those two words “SHE LIES,” I knew that the propaganda tactic of character assassination was being used to attack the credibility of my nearly 30 years of work as a vaccine safety consumer advocate."
Bill Gates: Vaccine-autism link 'an absolute lie', CNNHealth, Feb. 4, 2011..More propaganda from vaccine shill Bill Gates. -Ed.

Water additive bill filed in legislature

Lovely County Citizen, Feb. 2, 2011

LITTLE ROCK -- House Bill 1205, subtitled the "Arkansas Water Additive Accountability Act," will have the support of the Carroll-Boone Water District (CBWD) water operators, Office Manager Jim Allison said Monday.

The purpose of the bill, filed Jan. 24 by Rep. Loy Mauch of Bismarck, is "to establish criteria for substances added to public drinking water for purposes unrelated to potability; and for other purposes."

The bill, if signed into law, will require public water operators to obtain proof of effectiveness, safety, purity and lack of adverse health effects from the supplier of any substance to be added to the water in order to prevent or treat disease.

Full story

News Release : First Study of Dispersants in Gulf Spill Suggests a Prolonged Deepwater Fate

Source: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Jan. 27, 2010

To combat last year’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, nearly 800,000 gallons of chemical dispersant were injected directly into the oil and gas flow coming out of the wellhead nearly one mile deep in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, as scientists begin to assess how well the strategy worked at breaking up oil droplets, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) chemist Elizabeth B. Kujawinski and her colleagues report that a major component of the dispersant itself was contained within an oil-gas-laden plume in the deep ocean and had still not degraded some three months after it was applied.

“We don’t know if the dispersant broke up the oil,” she added. “We found that it didn’t go away, and that was somewhat surprising.”

Full story

8-Year-Olds on Cholesterol Meds? Is Big Pharma Pumping Kids Full of Dangerous Drugs?

AlterNet, Jan. 26, 2011

With childhood obesity on the rise, many kids are suffering from adult ailments. But Big Pharma's role in pushing adult drugs on kids requires a closer look.

Since 2001, high blood pressure meds for kids have risen 17 percent, respiratory meds 42 percent, diabetes meds 150 percent and heartburn/GERD meds 147 percent. Fifty percent of pediatricians also prescribe kids insomnia drugs, according to an article in the journal Pediatrics.

In fact, 25 percent of children and 30 percent of adolescents now take at least one prescription for a chronic condition says Medco, the nation's largest pharmacy benefit manager, making the kid prescription market four times as strong as the adult in 2009.

"Children are known to be compliant patients and that makes them a highly desirable market for drugs," says former pharma rep Gwen Olsen, author of Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher.

"Children are forced by school personnel to take their drugs, they are forced by their parents to take their drugs, and they are forced by their doctors to take their drugs. So, children are the ideal patient type because they represent refilled prescription compliance and 'longevity.' In other words, they will be lifelong patients and repeat customers for pharma."

Full story

Whole Foods Market Caves to Monsanto

 PRWatch

After 12 years of battling to stop Monsanto's genetically-engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation's organic farmland, the biggest retailers of "natural" and "organic" foods in the U.S., including Whole Foods Market (WFM), Organic Valley and Stonyfield Farm, have agreed to stop opposing mass commercialization of GE crops, like Monsanto's controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa. In exchange for dropping their opposition, WFM has asking for "compensation" to be paid to organic farmers for "any losses related to the contamination of his crop." Under current laws, Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not subject to any pre-market safety testing or labeling. WFM is abandoning its fight with biotech companies in part because two thirds of the products they sell are not certified organic anyway, but are really conventional, chemical-intensive and foods that may contain GMOs and that they market as "natural" despite this. Most consumers don't know the difference between "natural" and "certified organic" products. "Natural" products can come from crops and animals fed nutrients containing GMOs. "Certified Organic" products are GMO-free. WFM and their main distributor, United Natural Foods, maximize profits by selling products labeled "natural" at premium organic prices.